US President Donald Trump speaks during a multilateral meeting with leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, during the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, US, September 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump's move to ban press outlets from the White House is already blowing up in his face due to press solidarity, former Trump administration Homeland Security aide Miles Taylor told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday.
Trump, said Taylor, is a "Cat 5 hurricane against the First Amendment of the United States," and Trump has also managed to beat down the members of Congress who in earlier eras would have been outraged, like when he famously called reporters the "enemy of the people" on the 2016 campaign trail.
On the contrary, said Taylor, "We saw members of Congressthe past 72 hours onthe Republican side, cheeringon the president's decision todo this." Likewise, when he briefly banned former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta in 2018, "I was there at theWhite House ... They were gloatingand celebrating. What did thestaff do? They went out todinner to celebrate at theTrump Hotel. I watched himeating and high-fiving likethey just won a football game.Trump didn't care when the passwas restored because he likedthe optics of it."
On the other hand, he said, the concerted effort by the press to black him out in retaliation is very much hurting him.
"He knows that it'san embarrassment," said Taylor. "He knowsthrough socials and embarrassment, he has to look at the losses financially. He knows Trump TV is only going to be watched by 10,000 obsessed Trump fanatics, and it's just going to become another social media account for Donald Trump. It's going to go the way of the ties. It's going to go the way the steaks. It's going to go the way of Trump University. He knows that on the inside."
For all his animosity, Taylor continued, Trump relies on the mainstream press far more than he gives them credit for. "He would be on Air Force One, seriousconversation, Mr. President, ona national security issue, youknow, unmutes the TV so he canhear himself talk. No, this ishow much you all and CNN andPolitico matter to him. Heneeds that coverage."
Thus, he said, "thefact that he's being deniedeven the pool coverage and hadthat embarrassment ofannouncing the helipad and theaudio wasn't picked up, he'snot going to paper over thatwith Trump TV. He is stillembarrassed by that. And that'sthe place where the media hasleverage over him."